As a younger business owners we expect people to think we have little experience between us.
What can we do to make that less of a problem?
What can we do to make that less of a problem?
WHAT A LOCAL FISH STORE SHOULD BE?
- Thread starter Miles
- Start date
***** slap them into submission! LoL! Jk....I think the best way would be to PROVE to them you know your stuff. If they don't wanna listen and give yaz the credit, then they aren't worth your time, screw them!
i think thee most important thing is the health of the fish. there's one great fish store around here, where i buy all my plants and livestock from because i've never had any of thier fish die on me unless it was my fault. i've been going there for more than 15 years that's how much they impressed me. actually i just started working there this week. depending on where i was living at the time i would drive more than an hour to get there. the customer service isn't allways great, but for the selection(oddballs) and quality, i do my research first. i expect to pay more for just about everything at a lfs, but not ridiculously so. also i don't like waiting for mail order, it took me long enough to squirrel away the money, i want NOW. one thing to consider (something i used to do when i was a chef ) public demonstrations or lectures. get hooked up with the local fish club, or recruit from your own ranks, a class on aquascaping, how to keep african ciclids, biotope aquariums, how and why to co2, how to plan out a community aquarium, ...ect maybe even more advanced topics, whatever you have acess to a guru of. info on the fish, water parameters, where they're from, size, foods, and i like the factoid idea. definitely keep the fish together by origin makes life easier for everyone employee and customer. as far as aquascaping every tank, save it for a few really nice displays. the fish themselves should be the point of interest. allthough a decorated tank would give the customer a little insight into behavior. i hate seeing a tag for a neat catfish, having the employee rip apart the tank only to find out there aren't any left. smashed dreams! diverse selection of fish definitly common tetras to the "be the first one on your block fish" when i go to a resturaunt i allways ask what can i get here that i can't get elsewhere. i usually try unless it's HAGGIS!! i don't know but let's go find out is allways a good answer live foods definitely remember it's a business don't cut your nose off to spite your face. serious hobyists will travel and pay more when they know they've got a good thing guage your clientell and cater to them. that's repeat business right there! remember too that you can have multiple clientells as well. if you can do everything you say, it sounds like a dream store. best of luck and let us know how it goes. 
HarleyK said:
Thanks for your input HarleyK!
One thing I wanted to point out, not everyone is at the same level of fishkeeping skills. The reason I would advice a catalogue in the store for 'newcomers', unlike advaned hobbyist such as yourself, is because they may not know any better.
I often times see other 'confused' people who are new to aquariums, be sold a filtration unit that is complete garbage and what they DON'T need. This is even sadder, because it is often over priced, but they think they are doing the right thing by paying extra for the advice that was given to them by the LFS.
I think if I could offer an honest helping hand, such as reccomending complete set-up components via Mail-Order that 'fits in the budget' for most beginner hobbyist, it may gain the trust of them for years to come.
However, keep in mind that it would be hard to make a substantial income on not selling any hardgoods. In no way do I wan't to rip anyone off, but it is near impossible to compete with the mail order companies. It is interesting that the cost of ordering online is usually 1/2 the cost of the PetCo/PetSmart price.. Here is an idea; If could order a simple variety, of the 'top name brand' products, and price them EXACTLY the same amount as the local chain stores. I would still be making profit and at the same time fulfilling the demand for 'NOW' by impatient hobbyist. At the same time I can 'weed out' the bad hardgoods, which most beginners should avoid. I would not stock the cheezy chain brand filters obviously, nor uneffecient brands such as whisper. I would not allow the new hobbyist to be 'fooled' into what they don't really need, which they are often tricked into purchasing by mis-leading information labelled on the product.
Peanut_Power said:
I am a pretty easy to work with person, and I have been in retail since I started my working career.. I have no problem relating to customers, just ask my 'old' customers from when I worked at PetSmart. I still have people requesting my help via telephone all the time! Often I explain things thoroghly, and try to give them something to 'relate' to, and I often explain things with visual images. I do not know how many times I have taught the nitrogen cycle to people, but they understand if you explain it to them properly. You must remember, everyone starts somewhere.
A big problem in Spokane: Fish Snobs. A LFS is currently going out of business, due to arrogance and cockiness. This is exactly what I wan't to avoid. He would often times scold first-time customers for lacking knowledge or improperly keeping fish. I would often reference customers to him from PetSmart, as he is quite knowledge, to only have the customers come back to me complaining of his pompoussness and rude attitude.. He recently moved locations, and lost his entire customer base due to this behavior. Alot of his return customers refuse to shop their, including buying live black worms. To counteract his lack of business, he further tried to rip people off more often.. This is when you would often see people have over-priced devices they didn't need in the first place.
Customer Service combined with Knowledge will be key. One of the greatest 'reef' stores in the NW was built on kindness and the ability to further educate beginning hobbyist, not on profit alone. I am fairly novice when it comes to reef keeping, but at no time have I ever felt 'put down' or have felt bad for a mistake, when dealing with this particular store. This is the model I will be trying to achieve..
Waldo and I work well with customers, and we should have no problem at all making the customers feel at home. We have a 25cent pop machine too!
HarleyK said:
What if we simply told you that we Import the fish directly into an off-site facility? What if we also told you their is a similiar party located within the same city that is also Importing fish from Asia, and working with us in a joint effort to provide fish for each other? We cut out the middle-man.
Still suspicious?
Waldo said:
I think our 360g display tank as you enter the shop, will have them thinking twice about questioning our fishkeeping ability.. Perhaps if they wan't to go into it though, I could ramble off the scientific name of every fish we have in stock? That still dosn't prove much.. Well maybe that fully stocked Fahaka tank.. or the Stingrays all over? Ugh. Some people will never listen.. Oh well, we will do our best!
Wee for tankz full of kewl fishies!! And knowing the scientific names of all of them...SCORE!! Spokane is a great town eh? Too bad i never was able to come up and visit yaz. I was up there a couple of times...flying outa Spokane International...lol...and once went wit my friends to a downtown mall.....but they didn't want to go look at any LFS so i got out voted...suckage!
Peanut_Power said:
You weren't missing anything, suckage is right. The LFS around here are amazingly poor, unless you do salt.
stock more rare/odball fish than beginner fish so begginers can "look foward to" the more advanced side of the hobby.
